XBOX GAMEPASS: THE LOW-DOWN

     I’m sure that by now, most of you Xbox One users have heard about the Xbox Gamepass. It offers 100+ games to be downloaded and played as you please, for only $9.99 USD a month ($11.99 CAD).
    
     After spending some time with the Xbox Gamepass during the free trial period, I thought I would yap about some of my thoughts on the program. So now is probably a good time for you to close the page and run away as fast as you can. Still here? Ok, good. You had your chance to escape, now sit and listen.
    
     As of this writing, there are actually 112 games. Yes, I actually sat there and counted them. No, I’m not obsessive, you’re obsessive. So just by the sheer number of games alone, you’re getting some bang for your buck. There is a wide variety of genres, from puzzlers like Hexic 2 to fake-animal sex simulators like Viva Pinata. There is quite literally something for everyone. Aside from titles published by Microsoft, as was expected, there are quite a few titles from big developers like CAPCOM, Rare, and Telltale Games. I’m glad to see such big names supporting it, as well as a bunch of smaller devs like Wayforward: the creators of the indie hit series Shantae: Half Genie Hero.
    
     The quality of the games on offer with the Xbox Gamepass is as varied as the developers. You have big AAA Xbox One releases like Sunset Overdrive and Halo 5 alongside backwards compatible 360 games that had full retail releases like Gears of War: Judgement and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. And it between are a gang of smaller Xbox Live Arcade releases from both generations. I already downloaded a slew of games that I had either missed or passed on previously, such as; Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons; Bound By Flame; Mega Man Legacy Collection; Toy Soldiers; and Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. Not to mention 6 different fighting games.
    
     So my verdict, for now, is that Xbox Gamepass is well worth the price, at least for the time being. There are plenty of good things for me to play on it currently. The tricky question here is longevity. How long before I have nothing new to play? That depends entirely on how they handle the game rotation, as in how often they swap titles, how many titles do they swap at a time, and the quality of the titles rotated in. Only time will tell, but if Microsoft can manage to keep the titles on offer fresh and interesting, then they might have something beautiful going on here.
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